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VTANG pilots look forward to new F-35 fighter jets

Pomerleau Real Estate
Published 6:00 a.m. ET June 12, 2018

This story is produced and presented by Pomerleau Real Estate

Captain Clay Shaner’s journey has landed him in the cockpit of the most advanced military aircraft in history, and granted him unparalleled perspective of what it means to be a fighter pilot, and why it’s such a vital part of the VTANG’s identity.(Photo11: Clay Shaner)

Following his dreams has taken Captain Clay Shaner to unimaginable heights.

Shaner, 36, already had a successful career in finance on Wall Street in 2008. But when he daydreamed at his desk at Morgan Stanley or drifted off to sleep at night, his imagination didn’t conjure blue-chip stocks and financial windfalls.

He dreamed, like so many of us, of flying.

“It’s something I’ve always been fascinated with, and wanted to do,” he said. “I’ve always been the guy in the window seat on the plane, watching the earthbound world fade away. There’s a sense of freedom to it.”

Now a member of the Vermont Air National Guard, Shaner’s dreams have taken him to the absolute height of military aviation, to a point where he has a clear view of its future. Shaner is on exchange assignment to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida’s panhandle, in a replacement training unit geared toward integrating the very latest in military aircraft technology — the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — into the U.S. arsenal.

The journey that has landed Shaner in the cockpit of the most advanced military aircraft in history has granted him unparalleled perspective of what it means to be a fighter pilot, and why it’s such a vital part of the VTANG’s identity.

“It’s the ultimate man-combined-with-machine effort to accomplish some greater good,” Shaner said. “It’s extremely challenging; you have to be sharp, on your game and prepared in order to harness what is some of the greatest technology people have ever made and put into a machine.

“I view flying fighters as the pinnacle of aviation.”

Shaner has even spent time flying the F-35 in combat training against the F-16, with the older planes serving as mock opposition but proving to be “no match” for their replacements.(Photo11: Clay Shaner)

Brigadier General Dick Harris (Ret.) spent his entire career in the Air Guard, including 18 years as a pilot. Harris said high-performance military aircraft — particularly fighters — have been, and continue to be, the calling card of the Green Mountain Boys.

“The DNA of the Vermont Guard is fighters,” said Harris, who served as commander of the unit’s 134th Fighter Squadron from 2003 to 2005. “Fighters have been the unit’s heart and soul, since its inception.”

That singular aspect that has so largely defined the unit since 1946 has withstood many a threat, but now faces arguably its most formidable one — from time itself. The F-16 Fighting Falcons that VTANG pilots fly are in the twilight of their usable life, with the day that they are phased out completely looming ever larger on the horizon.

During his 14-year stint on active duty in the United States Air Force, Brigadier General David Baczewski (Ret.) served as an operational test pilot for the F-16 prior to its implementation. No one has a better long view of not only that fighter’s capabilities, but also its shortcomings — and how it fits into the big picture of the country’s air defense, now and in the future.

“The reality is that the airplanes they are flying were made in 1986,” Baczewski said. “They are running out of airframe life; we’re not going to be able to fly those airplanes for much longer — and the replacement aircraft for the F-16 is the F-35.”

Shaner flew the F-16 in combat over Iraq and Syria, and has spent the past nine months training on the F-35 with the aim of amassing knowledge he can bring back and share with VTANG. No one is more qualified to judge the level of improvement the new fighters will provide.

“The F-35 is going to make us more effective and survivable in a combat environment,” Shaner said. “It’s a tremendous leap forward, and it makes us, overall, a more formidable Air Force to have the F-35 as our baseline airplane technology.”

Shaner has even spent time flying the F-35 in combat training against the F-16, with the older planes serving as mock opposition but proving to be “no match” for their replacements.

“The F-35 is doing what it’s designed to do, and it’s superior,” Shaner said.

Baczewski was wing commander of the 158th Fighter Wing of the Vermont Air National Guard in December of 2013, when the official announcement was made about the F-35 fighter jet being based in Burlington with VTANG.

Baczewski described the announcement as “a crucible event.”

“It was exciting, and it was relieving,” Baczewski said. “I felt like I had helped secure the future of this unit for the next 30 years.

“Call it that Green Mountain Boy spirit. When you’re in that unit, you realize it’s this long-standing tradition of excellence that forms its identity. A unit like VTANG deserves the F-35, because it deserves to be a fighter unit. That’s been their identity, what they’re meant to be and what they’re best at.”

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